Game apparatus.



c. MAUNDERS. GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1910.

980,312, Patented Jan. 3,1911.

:2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I, A g ,2." g I 6 "MIME G. MAUNDBRS.

GAME APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION rmm JULY 11, mo.

Patented Jan.3,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES MAUNDERS, 0F MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

Application filed July 11, 1910. Serial No. 571,425.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES lVlAUNDERS, citizen of the United States, residing at Minot, in the county of lVard and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention comprehends certain new and useful improvements in game apparatus of the surface projectile type and the invention has for its primary object a device of this character designed to simulate the unloading of cattle, horses or other stock from a car into the various pens of a stock yard.

The invention also has for its object a simple and ingenious game of the nature above indicated which will possess to a considerable degree the capability of provoking the interest of the players and which will be susceptible of being played by two or more individuals with equal interest and ease.

With these and other objects in view as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved game apparatus; Fig. 2 is a top plan View thereof; Fig. 3 is a transverse diametrical section; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the counting scales and its pointer.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

My improved game apparatus embodies a board A which may be formed of any desired material and of any desired size and shape, although preferably round, said board being formed in one or more sections, just as judgment or taste will dictate, and the requirements of packing and storing demand.

In connection with the board A, a chute or run-way B is employed, the said runway being provided at its ugper end with a starting platform 1 and divi ed transversely by longitudinal lines or otherwise so as to produce any desired number of tracks leading down to the board A, according to the different species of animals represented in the game. For instance, in the present embodiment of the device, the starting platform 1 is divided into five compartments, numbered as shown, displaying the following names, respectively, namely, horses cattle, sheep, hogs and mules. If desired, the run-way B may be so formed that it may easily contain and hold, when not in use, the dice box, balls and other accessories used in playing the game.

The board A is provided with a plurality of runs 2 which register at one end with the lower end of the runway B and which extend inwardly from the outer end of the board in parallel relation to each other at a predetermined distance, said runs merging at their inner ends into yards 3. The fences 4; which separate each run and its yard from the others, may be made of wood, cork or other material or substance of any desired height, being preferablyformed of cork, as this substance possesses the necessary rebounding qualities, and preferably the fences are inchned or curved upwardly on opposite sides so as to permit the balls to properly rebound while at the same time avoid any tendency of jumping the fence. It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to any particular arrangement of runs or yards, but for the purpose of illustration I have shown the resent embodiment of the invention as lncluding a middle run, the fences defining the same extending past the center of the board and curving laterally in opposite directions past the center to form one of the yards. The next two adjoining runs 2 gradually widen out into their yards 3 at op osite sides of the yard just mentioned, while the outside runs 2 curve sharply in opposite directions so as to form the somewhat more circular remaining yards.

Surrounding the series of yards 3 is any desired number of compartments 5 designed to indicate or represent feed racks, said feed rack com artments being separated from the yar s by fence sections 6 curved oppositely to the margin of the board and separated at a predetermined dis tance from each other so as to provide openings 7 between the yards and the feed racks.

The feed racks are in turn divided into any desired number of segmental compartments by radial lines 8 for a purpose which will be described in connection with the description of the manner in which the game is played. At the point where a run merges into a yard, each yard is provided with an entrance gate 9 guarding the opening leading into the yard, thesegates being in the form of pointers pivotally mounted on the fences intermediate of the ends of the pointers, the pointers being designed to coactwith counting scales 10 each of which consists of any desired number of numerals. In the present embodiment of the device, these counting scales 10 with which the gates or pointers 9 coact, are arranged in a curved series, leading from one up to twenty toward a medial line in opposite directions, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. The openings 9 from the yards to the feed racks are similarly guarded by corresponding gates 11 that are in the form of pointers pivoted at middle points upon relatively short posts 12 that are set in the openings 7 as shown. In connection with the pointers or gates 11, counting scales 13 are displayed on the upper face of the board A, said scales preferably displaying numerals from one up to twelve leading toward a middle line, as shown; The board A further displays preferably circularly arranged counting scales 14, one for each of the runs and its yard, these last named scales having pointers 15 centrally mounted therein and used by the-respective players to count the score and to determine the winner of the game. In the present form of the device, the scale 14 ranges from one up to one hundred and twenty, one hundred and twenty therefore being indicated as the winning score.

Preferably, each yard 3 with a run 2 is colored differently from the other yards and their runs, and the tracks and compartments of the run-way B are correspondingly colored. For instance, the yard C and the run and track leading thereto, designed to receive the game pieces representing horses, may be colored gray. TheneXt yard D, indicated for cattle, may be black. The yard E, indicated for sheep may be white. The yard F for hogs may be red, and the yard G for mules may be brown. The compart ments for the counting scale let may be correspondingly colored, according to the particular stock of which they are a representation, and the feed rack compartments 5 may be similarly colored. These last named compartments display on theupper face of the board the names of the different animals and are to indicate the different owners of the feed racks, as represented by the players. These are penalty compartments, as will be hereinafter described, and hence, in juxtaposition to the horse yard C, the feed racks in'clude several stations.

are preferably marked for cattle, sheep, hogs and mules. In other words, the feed racks close to any of the stock yards are preferably marked for animals other than those designed for that particular yard.

The game is played by means of preferably rubber balls 16 that are differently colored to arbitrarily indicate the animal to be driven from the run-way down into one of the yards or pens, and in starting the game, a dice box is preferably made use of so as to determine which of the players shall start first. F or instance, if five players are engaged in the game, each one, at the outstart, will select one of the balls 16 and hereafter he or she will be known as the owner of the horses, cattle, sheep, etc. After the balls have thus been selected, the players will throw the dice to determine who shall start the game. The players will then play in rotation. For example, if number 3, the owner of the sheep, makes the highest throw and is therefore entitled to start the game, No. 4, the owner of the hogs will be the next to play, No. 5, the owner of the mules will be the neXt to play, and so on, the plays being thus made in rotation and confusion being thereby avoided. When it becomes a players turn, the ball 16 will be laid on the platform 1 in the compartment to which it belongs, and will then be permitted to roll down the run-way B, no force being used preferably, as it would tend to cause the ball to jump the fence. As the ball rolls upon the run-way B, it will enter its proper run 2 and pass on through the gate 9 into its proper yard or pen 3, the gate or pointer 9 being thereby turned and coming to rest with" one end of the pointer over one of the num bers of the computing scale 10. This number will then be credited to the player, being marked up on such players counting scale 14 by means of the pointer 15. Should, however, the ball roll on and pass through one of the openings 7 into a feed rack com partment 5, the gate 11 struck by the ball in this passage will, of course, be turned to one of the numbers on the adjacent scale 13 and such amount will be deducted from the players score and credited to the stock owner of the rack where the ball lodges.

Manifestly, the scoring may be made more or less arbitrary. For instance, the individual counting scales 14 that are arranged from one to one hundred and twenty, may For example, if a players score at the end of a play, amounts to 35 he will be entitled to advance 1.0 points, if at the end of a turn the players score amounts to he will lose whatever amount he might otherwise have gained by the play just concluded. If at the end of a turn a players score happens to aggregate exactly 90, he will forfeit ten points. If a players score at the end of any turn amounts exactly to 105, the player will lose the entire amount he has gained through the game and be required to start over again. As soon as any players score reaches 115, he will not play again, but instead will use the dice to gain the remaining five points, throwing instead of playing as his turn comes around. In throwing the dice, however, it will be understood that only the exact amount necessary to go out will be counted. In other words, as soon as the player reaches the 115 mark, a throw of five will put him out. A throw of six or more or any number in excess of the number required to exactly put him out will be of no avail. If he throws one, he will then of course only need four to go out on the next go. Obviously, various other arbitrary rules may be made to add to the interest of the game, but the structural numbers will remain the same, although it is to be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement and roportion of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

If desired, a small image of a man and a small image of a dog may be placed in frontof the several gates which lead from the pens or yards into the feed rack compartments, and the game so arranged that if one of the balls knocks the dog over, a gain of five points will be credited to the player, while if the image of the man be knocked over, 10 points will be forfeited.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A game apparatus, embodying a board, provided with a run and a yard into which the run opens, and a pointer extending over the passage between the run and the yard and adapted to be engaged by a rolling ele ment passing from the run to the yard.

2. A game apparatus, embodying a board provided with a plurality of runs and yards into which the respective runs open, and pointers pivotally mounted upon the board and extending over the passage between the runs and gates and adapted to be struck by a rolling element moving from the run to the yard.

3. .A game apparatus, including a board provided with a run and a yard into which the run opens, a pointer extending over the passage between the run and yard adapted to be struck by a rolling element moving from the run toward the yard, the board being further provided wit 1 a plurality of compartments separated from the yards and having openings by which the compartments communicate with the yards at the back of the latter, and pointers mounted in said openings, for the purpose specified.

4. A game apparatus, embodying a board, fences secured to the upper surface of the board and forming yards and runs leading to the yards, and pointers pivotally supported on the fences at the juncture of the runs with the yards, and adapted to be struck by rolling elements moving between the fences from the runs to the yards.

5. A game apparatus, embodying a board, fences secured to the upper surface of the board and forming yards and runs leading to the yards, and pointers pivotally supported on the fences at the juncture of the runs with the yards and adapted to be struck by rolling elements moving between the fences from the runs to the yards, fence sections secured to the board at the rear of the yards and forming feed rack compartments having openings by which they communicate with the respective yards, and pointers mounted in said openings.

6. A game apparatus, comprising a board provided with a run and a yard into which the run opens, a pointer mounted on the board and extending over the passage between the run and the yard, and an inclined run way at one side of the board adapted to direct a rolling element down into the run.

In testimony whereof, I atfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES MAUNDERS. [1 s.]

\Vitnesses:

L. M. DELL, WILLIAM HENRY HAvn'.L. 

